(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Shington may 29 (qna) - us secretary of state john kerry 'flatly disagreed' with three republican members response to president barack obama's decision to bring home us troops from afghanistan by the end of 2016 as a 'monumental mistake'.
in an interview with george stephanopoulos of abc's good morning america show kerry said "i flatly disagree. there seems to be an industry of automatic opposition to anything but the fact is that everything that has been accomplished in afghanistan in the last five years has been accomplished with a deadline."
the secretary of state responded to republicans' john mccain lindsey graham and kelly ayotte calling obama's decision as 'monumental mistake' and "it's a triumph of politics over strategy that will embolden our enemies".
"when president obama came in there was no policy. the president increased the troops put a policy in place and set a deadline for the afghans to be able to take over security. and they met the deadline" kerry told abc.
replying to a question whether there could be renewed violence if al-qaida returns in force with depleted us troops post 2016 kerry said "the united states and the president will do whatever is necessary to protect the united states of america our forces and our citizens." asked whether america's longest war is ending in victory he said "i think it is ending. the best you can do is give afghans the opportunity to decide their own future. this is their country they should be prepared to fight for it and right now they are." (qna)
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